This invention relates in general to apparatus for massaging parts of the human body and, more specifically, to a versatile roller massager for massaging body areas and extremities, e.g. arms, legs, torso and back.
Massage has long been used to relax and firm muscles and to relieve muscle cramps and other painful muscle conditions. A variety of devices have been developed to permit a user to manually massage various parts of the body. Many of these use rollers that can be moved over the body, often pressed by springs to provide a firm but yielding pressure. The rollers may be manually pressed against the body or may be mounted in a frame so that an am or leg can be inserted between opposed rollers.
Typical of these prior roller massagers which surround an extremity are those described by Landis in U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,396, Salata in U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,250 and Kupchinski in U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,085. Each of these mounts a plurality of rollers on axles mounted in a frame, with opposed rollers biased toward each other by tension springs.
The biasing force and the distance between opposed rollers before a body part is inserted therebetween are not adjustable in the Kupchinski and Landis devices, and the distance is changeable in the Salata device only by removing and reinstalling roller and tensioning spring assemblies. Thus it is difficult and inconvenient to adjust roller pressure to accommodate extremities of different diameters or to provide light pressure on painful areas while providing heavier pressure and deeper massage against well conditioned areas.
Further, it is often difficult to insert the extremity between the rollers, since the body part must force the rollers apart. For example, where a knee is painful due to arthritis or the like, the prior art assemblies will be painful to use, since they must be rolled over the knee while pressing against the knee to reach the thigh to massage the thigh muscles.
In addition, many of these prior massaging devices are difficult or inconvenient to hold and move along the extremity being massaged.
Thus, there is a continuing need for improved roller massagers using opposed spring-loaded rollers that permit easy and convenient adjustment of tension, provide improved manipulation convenience and accuracy with easily grasped and manipulated handles, which permit the spacing between rollers to be easily changed and which allow the rollers to be locked well apart during insertion of a bodily extremity between the rollers.